Wednesday, March 11, 2009

No Cupcakes for You: Johnny Cupcakes

It was one of those moments that people like us, people who love food, get excited about. You're driving around when out of the corner of your eye you see something new and potentially delicious. Sometimes, if you can't suppress the hunger or curiosity, you pull off the road and check it out right then, other times you make a mental note to go back and explore.

It happened to me a couple of weekends ago, driving down Melrose. On the north side of the street, west of Fairfax, was a place I'd never noticed: Johnny Cupcakes. It had an industrial mixer in the front window and a neon sign proclaiming "Freshly Baked."

A new cupcake place right on Melrose?!? Well of course I would check it out, so I went back the next day hoping to find a new treasure. Entering the store, I noticed that something was wrong. The glass pastry case was filled with pins and shirts and other memorabilia. I mean sure, lots of food shops have that stuff, but this was displayed rather prominently. Maybe the cupcakes were in the back cooler.

Picking up on my dismay, one of the hipsters behind the counter asked, "Is this your first time here." I replied affirmatively. "We're not a bakery," he informed me, "we sell cupcake related clothing." "Oh," I said, feeling sheepish and tragically unhip, "you must get that a lot." "Yeah, we do," he replied in a quizzical sort of way as if it was a mystery to him why naming a place Johnny Cupcakes and putting a mixer in the window would lead some people to believe that the establishment actually sold cupcakes.

My new plan is to open a shop called Johnny Clothing and sell...cupcakes.